How to save a Saltwater flooded GOPRO

[vdanp77]

This is great news!
I haven't tried it yet so I can't really say if it's going to work or not. Unfortunately I'm not going to pin my hopes up on it as it's been nearly a month since it was exposed to salt water. (I was one of those smart chaps that put the wrong casing on )
Just out of curiously, just so I get this right, am I meant to open the camera up, then submerge it completely into the rubbing alcohol? (Apart for the lens)
At this point I don't have nothing to lose as it's not working anyway.

Thanks again guys for giving me hope!

 

[vdanp77]

Dump question, sorry, what kind of vinegar?

 

[undrwater]

White vinegar. And denatured alcohol. Step by step:

Remove battery (this should have been done immediately after the camera was removed from the salt water)
Use white vinegar on a toothbrush for any corrosion you find on the electronics
Fresh water bath (submerged)
Dry out the fresh water
Denatured alcohol bath (submerged)
Dry out the alcohol (this will go much faster)
Let sit in a Tupperware container with silica bags to compete drying process (2 days or more)
Put it all together, pray, cross your fingers, wish upon a star, and replace the battery.

 

[Barauna]

I accidentally flooded my friend's Hero 4 Silver, now the camera is dead. I already bought him a new one and kept the flooded one, I already stripped down the camera and I am hoping to revive it this weekend using the method above. I will post my results. Great thread!!!

 

[ppatin]

Unfortunately I'm a new member of the flooded GoPro crowd. When trying to clean the camera with alcohol should I be soaking the lens and the LCD screen as well?

 

[undrwater]

You really want to get all of the electronics as clean of salt water as possible. If that means soaking the lens and LCD, then yes.

 

[ppatin]

Thanks for the reply. After several cleanings with alcohol it looks like some of the connections on the PCB may have sustained permanent damage from corrosion already but I'll let it sit in a tupperware with rice for a few days on the off chance it can be revived.

 

[Dee-C]

Sorry to bump an old thread but I thought it was worth posting and saying that this GoPro fix worked for me too so thank you to the OP.

I was cliff jumping and after landing in the water I realised I had the wrong rear door on the housing... I immediately swam back, pulled the battery and SD card out and wrapped the GoPro in a towel. I was on holiday so didn't have anything to hand to make the repair. I did pick up a box of rice and left it for 2 days before travelling home.

The GoPro remained in the case for around another 5 days before I began the repair, so about a week in total. This meant the salt had already started to affect the motherboard etc but using the method listed by the OP it was clean in no time.

Once cleaned I left it in rice for a week and assembled it today. It works perfectly and even restored some corrupted cliff jumping footage!

It's a GoPro Hero 4 Silver.

Thanks again to the OP!